Local contracting business robbed of $9,000 worth of equipment

HARRISON COUNTY, W.Va (WDTV) - Frank Hardman and his nephew are the co-owners of WV Contracting, and have only been in their current building along Cost Avenue near Stonewood since February.

Hardman says they have never had a problem with their business, but that all changed earlier this week.

"We have a shipping container that we put all our tools in, and we also have a job trailer that we take to the job sites, and we had them behind the office and locked up," said Hardman. "They were broken into Wednesday morning."

Hardman says the tools were locked up like normal at the end of the day Tuesday, but when they came back the next day dozens of equipment pieces were missing.

After checking their equipment, Hardman says their losses total near $9,000, and trying to replace everything they have lost will take a toll on their small family business.

"As far as these hand tools, we'll have to replace them all. It takes a hit. At $9,000 for a small contractor it's a hit."

Hardman says the Harrison County Sheriff's Office and Stonewall Police have been helping them try to recover some of their stolen items, but in the meantime they're working on better security for their business.

"We already started. We put more secure locks on the container, and with the job trailer we'll porbably pull it out to the home site. And we're going to install better cameras."

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